NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Sonny Gray has been a Yankee for seven months, but in some ways, he's still getting acclimated.
Acquired in a deadline trade with the Oakland A's in July, the veteran starting pitcher says going through his first spring training with the Yankees is an important step.
"When I came over last year, it was hard to kind of develop a relationship or whatnot (with manager Joe Girardi) with games every day," the right-hander told WFAN's Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on Thursday. "That's why spring training is so valuable and so important on so many other aspects than just on the field. You get to develop relationships with the coaches, with the players, with the front office, with everyone that goes into running a team and an organization."
Gray went 4-7 with a 3.72 ERA after the trade. While he'd certainly like to improve upon those numbers, he also knows he has perhaps the most potent lineup in baseball on his side to make things a bit easier.
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"With the guys we have in the lineup and the way that they play defense as well, it's going to be a challenging task for opposing pitchers," Gray said. "But at the same time, we're going to have to go out there and execute still and do what we have to do in order to win the game."
As for World Series expectations, that doesn't bother Gray.
"We have very high expectations of ourselves," he said. "We feel very confident in ourselves in what we know we can do. And with all the guys we have in this locker room, we're ready to take on expectations head-on and go out there and play and perform."
To listen to the interview, click on the audio player above.
